Principal 'molested schoolgirls'

THE principal of a private Jewish girls' school in Melbourne has fled Australia facing accusations that she sexually molested some of the students.

Outraged parents claim that the Adass Israel Girls' School in Elsternwick paid for Malka Leifer, a mother of eight, to return to Israel before reporting the complaints to the police.

She left Melbourne on Wednesday last week, 24 hours after being investigated and sacked by the school's board.

The Adass community is a small, ultra-orthodox and reclusive group of about 150 families based in Elsternwick and Ripponlea. They have little contact with the wider Jewish community and non-Jewish society.

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It is believed the complaints against Mrs Leifer involve girls aged 15 and 16.

The president of the Adass Israel synagogue, Benjamin Koppel, has confirmed that the school acted after receiving a call suggesting that inappropriate behaviour may have taken place with one or more of the school's present or former students.

Mr Koppel did not return calls from The Age, but in a statement to The Australian Jewish News, he said a "relevant authority" had been informed. He would not confirm whether that was police, a religious court or an independent schools board.

A spokeswoman for Victoria Police said the force was aware of the claims but could not confirm whether there was an investigation because the victims might be under age.

Raphael Aron, a counsellor with Gateway Family Counselling Centre in Caulfield, said his agency had referred some families with children at the school to specialists. "This has hit the community like a ton of bricks, it's absolutely out of character with the nature of the school, staff and faculty," he said.

Mr Aron, who is also director of Cult Counselling Australia, which tries to get people out of cults, said he was concerned for the girls' welfare. "In a school where kids don't have much exposure to the outside world, there is a possibility of vulnerability … they may not have the street wisdom to recognise that something is wrong," he said.

Parents of present and past students said Mrs Leifer had molested students at school, at her home and probably at school camps. They said one victim had attempted suicide.

The parents, who would not be named, said that Mrs Leifer would share her bed with different students when her rabbi husband was away. She would tell the students she was scared, although she had five children, aged five to 12, in the house. Link